completion.

It’s been a few days since I’ve had a chance to blog. This week has definitely earned the “hectic” title. Today was perhaps the most hectic day thus far. Today I happily aided with my high school band’s leadership camp. As something I personally took part in for three years in high school, it was nice to go through the familiar process of leadership camp. Although I may have completed my process as a leader for my high school band, I still have much to learn about being a leader in the real world, something I often aspire to be. Regardless, no matter how many times I sit through camps and such to help me develop various skills, I always learn something new. For example, today I learned that assuming things about your perspective on something or someone is not the way to go. Part of my job today was to run a training game called the “blind-man’s maze.” The leadership camp was divided into six groups of 7, 8, or even 9 players who took turns rotating through various games to help them learn basic leadership skills such as trust, listening, etc. The particular game I supervised was exceptionally amusing and interesting to watch. The players on each team had to first pick a leader and then proceed to put on blindfolds. Then they lined up with each of their hands on the person’s shoulders in front of him [minus the leader of course] and once they were set, I guided the leader to the first rope that would start the maze. The object of the game was to find all of the “snakes” [pieces of ropes tied along the strings in random places] and work as a team to get through the maze. Of the six groups, three teams succeeded in finding and untying all 8 snakes in the allotted time of seven minutes. Two of those three teams did it before the horn signaling rotation of groups sounded. I was quite impressed with the ways some of the teams handled the challenge. One of the teams actually walked backwards through parts of the maze when they hit “walls.” The thing I noticed that was similar amongst all of the groups was the their reaction to the maze once they removed their blindfolds at the end of the challenge. They were all amazed as to how 6-7 pieces of long rope that created the “maze/guides” had stumped them so much. They also all thought that they were in a much larger field than what it truly was, the area behind the air conditioning unit outdoors outside the band hall. Like I said, I learned that what you think someone may be isn’t how it always turns out.
Another instance of this is something else I did recently. Actually, this last month. Along with aiding with my high school band’s leadership training camp, I also took my last summer class final. This is also hopefully the last science test I ever have to take for the remainder of my education career. What I’ve learned from taking the two chemistry classes I took the last month, beyond the obvious chemistry itself, was that although I had taken a lot of chemistry in high school and was quite good at it, I didn’t find the same result in this class. I partially blame the fact that since I recognized everything from skimming over the chapters and also from what my professor taught the first day as things that I was familiar with and expected to do well at, I set myself up to fail. I’ve learned that I shouldn’t just assume things from past experiences. I should treat everything as a new experience. I’m not saying I should dump all prior knowledge of things I attempt, I’m just saying that I should be open to relearning and adding to the knowledge I already have more than I do sometimes. Isn’t going for a college degree just expanding on the education you already had anyway?
To connect with the title subject of completion, I think that the more I “complete” various tasks, classes, subjects, and goals, I should adjust and expand these completions so that I always have something to keep striving for, not that I don’t have enough as it is. Oh and Happy July. Another thought for completion. July is the month that will not only complete my summer 2010 vacation, but it will also mark the end of my 18th year of life for my birthday is in 16 days.
Last but not least, I’d like to redirect you to another blog that I very much enjoy reading daily. I stumbled upon it by randomly clicking around wordpress when I first made my blog to see some of the things they offered. This particular blog that I’d like for you to check out is perhaps on my favorite things that I have found through this website. The particular entry I’m going to direct you to is from yesterday as a matter of fact and relates perfectly to this thought: #472 of 1000 Awesome Things. Happy reading! =D